finding joy in the simple things

Liebster Award

I am so excited to announce that my blog, Home Sweet Home Maker, has been nominated for the Liebster Award. This award is given to bloggers by other bloggers so that they can share audiences and ideas, get to know each other, & help each other grow!

I was nominated by Laura, writer of This Mom Blogs, who writes about all the crazy-ness of parenting. I am so excited to get to know her better & get insight from reading her blog.

In order to receive the nomination, Laura has asked me to answer some questions about myself & my blog.

What has been your biggest challenge with blogging?

Trying to figure out how to monetize and get recognition for my blog. I am gifted in writing, organizing and displaying content well… but actually doing the hard work to reach out to others and do what is necessary to get recognition has been a chore for me. I wish I could just write and others would magically read it!

What are your hobbies other than blogging?

I absolutely love to clean. It just brings me so much joy to keep everything looking nice & to keep the world around me in order. I also enjoy reading, baking, planning/organizing, holding babies and spending time with my mother. As a little girl, my dream was always to be a homemaker, and I would say that even to this day, everything I adore has to do with that lifestyle.

Tell us about your blog & why you started blogging.

As I’ve been sitting around for two months waiting for my baby to arrive, I’ve had a lot of time to think. Like I said, my lifetime goal has really been to be a homemaker/stay-at-home mom. One day I had this light bulb moment that maybe I could somehow make money with this gig! I’ve had a tumblr blog for years & only written when the mood struck me, but it was something that truly brought my heart joy. I knew I would find joy in blogging, so I went for it.

I want this blog to be somewhere that encourages young moms to stay strong in what they are doing, that brings them ideas and motivation to do their tasks well, and a platform to share my hope & faith in Jesus Christ with the world.

What & who motivates you to write?

I just love to write. It’s always been a joy of mine. I’ve tried to write many books, & it never really worked out. Creativity and imagination are not my strong suits. However, when I have an idea, I can always find a way to write a short article about it. Writing short snippets of what’s going on in my heart and brain is so inspiring. The only way to really describe it is that writing makes my insides tingle. I always knew I wanted to write forever, but had been trying to find a way to really pursue it in a practical way.

What has been your proudest mommy moment? What has been your biggest mommy fail?

As I have only been a mommy for 19 days, it’s pretty easy to decide. My biggest fail so far was forgetting to burp Samuel for the first entire week of life. Needless to say, I will never forget again…. Our first night home from the hospital was spent endlessly bouncing a screaming babe. We had no idea what was wrong until he let out a giant fart and fell asleep!

My proudest moment was at Samuel’s first appointment. His doctor let us know that Samuel was growing exceptionally well, was several weeks over in development and that we were great parents and he didn’t need to see us for a couple months! Having an older doctor continually praise our parenting skills was so wonderful. After feeling like a “bad mom” for the first couple weeks, it definitely boosted my “mommy-esteem” to hear that.

What is your number one piece of advice for a new mom?

Being a brand new mom, I don’t have a whole lot to say. But thankfully, I have a mother who has been going at it for 30 years now. Her biggest advice to me has been to not have expectations of who your kids are going to be or what kind of mom you are going to be. Life gets crazy, kids have their own personalities, & sometimes you can’t do anything about it! She has put a lot of pressure on herself to have perfect kids, but when she got kid #8, she realized that she really was doing the best she could do. Don’t let other moms look down on you, & don’t compare yourself. Each family has its own struggles.